The Perseverance of the Green Ranger
by MegaSilver
Summary: The Green Ranger clone was more than a biological copy: he has all the memories and personality of the original. What if he defeated the White Ranger in "Return of the Green Ranger"? Would he try to take Tommy's place? And how would Kimberly cope?
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer: **_Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers_ belongs to Saban Brands and not to the author of this story, who is the sole proprietor of this story. If you reproduce it, please let me know where. This story is strictly non-profit._

_**Author's Note: **__No capybaras were harmed during the writing of this fanfic. I can't guarantee the same thing about Tommys.ƒ_

_And no, I HAVE NOT GIVEN UP ON MY OTHER STORIES! I'm just putting this out there…_

_**Continuity:**__ Takes place in the middle of "The Return of the Green Ranger part 3." Spins off a nice alternate universe from that point on._

_**The Perseverence of the Green Ranger  
><strong>_Prologue  
><strong>by MegaSilver<strong>

The Power Suit protected a Ranger from the fatal injury of a high impact, but not from the pain. So, having been ejected from the Tigerzord and thrust into free fall down to the ground, Tommy felt as though every bone in his body had cracked in two. His head rattled inside his helmet.

The pain always subsided after a minute or two. But the headache did not.

_Oh man. I'm losing my re-energizement._

"Tommy!" cried Saba, his faithful assistant. "The Wizard!"

The White Ranger didn't even have time to pull himself to his feet before the Wizard and the Green Ranger were upon him.

"So, White Ranger," snarled the Wizard of Deception, who had caused all the trouble, "are you ready to surrender?"

"Never!" the White Ranger spat at the contemptuous fire-breathed Wizard, glaring at the devious pair through a haze.

"Remember," warned Tommy's Green Ranger counterpart, "only _one_ Tommy can survive!"

"Well, you've been a pitiful excuse for a Ranger!" taunted the Wizard.

Then, an idea hit Tommy. Nothing to lose. "Well, I… I might surrender… if you could send me to the same place as you sent my friends!"

The Green Ranger let out a wicked laugh. "So you can protect them with your own powers already activated? Think again!"

_Okay… didn't work_, Tommy realized. _He's on to me. He knows me as well as I do. He knows what's on my mind._

_But then… I should know what's on his! _Tommy knew he had to find a way to use that against this foe.

Alas, he would never get the chance.

"You want to go somewhere?" sneered the Wizard. "I have just the place for you!" He thrust forth his wand and zapped the White Ranger.

Electrical charges shot through Tommy's body. "NOOOOOOO!" he cried. "Saba!" He lifted the Tiger Saber to try to cut through the beam, but it was no use. Saba just bounced right off. Tommy held on to the sword for dear life. "Alpha! Zordon! AAAAAAAH!"

The charge completely overwhelmed Tommy's body and the White Ranger disappeared—along with Saba.

* * *

><p>"Ai-yi-yi!" cried Alpha as he stared into the Viewing Globe. "Zordon, they've got Tommy now, too!"<p>

"Alpha, the situation is now dire," said Zordon. "The Earth is undefended and we are closer to finding the other five Rangers than we are to finding Tommy. We have to keep searching the time line. Only then will we be able to buy enough time to start narrowing down the search for Tommy."

"Oh! We're not even _that_ close to finding the others!"

"Keep trying, Alpha."

* * *

><p>The Green Ranger was appalled. "You… you killed him!" He clenched his fist and his arm began to shake. "<em>I<em> was supposed to kill him!"

"No, I did not kill him!" objected the Wizard. "I merely banished him to an unreachable dimension and sealed off the portal."

_Even worse!_ "You fool!" fumed the Green Ranger. "You didn't even bother to finish him off! Only one Tommy can be alive at one time!"

"I am aware of that!" snapped the Wizard. "But I've not forgotten you: now the White Ranger is in another dimension—and that means the two of you are no longer in the same time line!"

The Green Ranger turned pensive for a moment. "Well… if you put it _that_ way…" Perhaps it wasn't as satisfying as if he had been able to destroy the White Ranger himself, but on the other hand, it was practical. After all, Zordon had said of the White Ranger…

"_This time, his powers were created in the light of goodness and can never be taken away by the forces of evil."_

Had they killed the White Ranger, the other Rangers would undoubtedly have recovered his powers.

No fear of that now.

"Come now, my faithful Green Ranger!" bade the Wizard of Deception. "The Power Rangers are no more. The primitive fools of Earth and their pitiful military technology will be no match for our mighty extraterrestrial armies—but let us show them quickly!"

* * *

><p>The Green Ranger and the Wizard of Deception stood midway down a mountain slope overlooking Angel Grove and the coast, watching as the Dragonzord fired its finger cannons into the last highway feeding into the city.<p>

"There!" laughed the Wizard. "So much for defense and survival provisions! Now the people of Angel Grove will have no choice but to bow to me as lord and master.

"And you, Green Ranger, you will be my right hand in this conquest! Now, genuflect and pay homage to me, and then go and begin the task of terrorizing the populace into my service!"

"Bow to you?" Beneath his helmet, the replica's brow furrowed. His blood boiled. First the Wizard had taken the White Ranger—taken a part of him—, and now _this_? This was too much.

The Green Rangerhad done all the hard work. He'd put everything in place.

And he wasn't just some faceless monster of the day. He was a sentient being. A bloody _Power Ranger_!

How dare this pretentious Wizard of Deception treat him as just another lowly minion! He should have a more fitting favor for his services. Why should the Wizard get the glory for the Green Ranger's magnificent fighting prowess?

"Never!" the Green Ranger growled.

"_What?_" exclaimed the Wizard.

"I'll never bow to you. _I_ lured the Rangers into your trap. _I_ weakened the White Ranger. _My_ Dragonzord conquered the city. Angel Grove is _mine_!"

With that, the Green Ranger brought his palms together. His hands swapped an eerie blue electrical charge back and forth until it took the form of a powerful lightning ball, which he hurled at his would-be master with deadlier precision than that with which a professional bowler would aim for his pins.

The Wizard lifted his wand just in time to catch the ball. The wand absorbed the charge, but the sheer force of motion nearly knocked the thing out of his hand. Nearly.

Now the Wizard was angry. "You remember, Green Ranger, 'Tommy,' that I gave you your powers… and I can take them away!" A red charge began to glow at the tip of the wand, and the Wizard thrust it forward, dispensing the charge directly into the Green Ranger's shield.

"Huh?" The Green Ranger braced himself, expecting momentarily to be hurled backwards. The force pushed into him, but only for a moment. Then he felt a new sensation, almost a sort of sucking sensation. He felt his Morphin' energy begin to fade.

_Not my powers! Not again!_

"NOOOOO!" howled the Green Ranger.

"Oh, yes! In just a matter of minutes all your powers will belong to me—and then you'll have no choice but to serve me forever!"

Breathing heavily and struggling to stay standing, the Green Ranger struggled to get to his holster and pulled out his Dragon Dagger. He managed to lift it up to his lips and play his auxiliary intonation:

_So-Do-Ti-Do-Fa-So…_

A power surge from the sides of the shield fed into the center, but was broken off by the Wizard's drain ray. _I have to try again!_ The Green Ranger inhaled deeply and then blew once more: _So-Do-Ti-Do-Fa-So…_

Another surge fed in, and this one nearly caught. Just one more, maybe: _So-Do-Ti-Do-Fa-So…_

This one caught, deflecting the beam and zapping the Wizard. The sucking sensation stopped. _All right!_

"AAARG!" cried the Wizard as he tumbled to the ground.

_So-Do-Ti-Do-Do-Re… So-Do-Ti-Do-Fa-So… Fa-Mi-Re-Do-So… So-Do-Ti-Do-Fa-So…_

Repeating the intonation again and again to keep his shield activated, the Green Ranger approached his creator, who struggled to make it back to his feet. As he reached the Wizard, he saw his foe's arm reach out for the wand.

The Green Ranger whipped the Dragon Dagger down away from his mouth and stomped on the stunned Wizard's arm with his left foot. "Oh, no, you don't!" he taunted, kicking his foe with right foot. Then, quickly, he snatched up the wand.

"Say goodnight, fire breath!"

The Green Ranger zapped the Wizard continuously with the drain ray, cackling with glee as his creator faded along with his powers, becoming increasingly shrivelled and deformed until he was nothing but dust.

"All right! Man, I love doin' that twice a week!"

Then, a realization hit the Green Ranger: _I really do love doing that twice a week._

_I did. I… still do. I always have!_

Then everything came back. He remembered everything. His childhood in Los Angeles. His first stint as the Green Ranger. The breaking of the spell. The countless monsters he'd helped destroy. The first loss of his powers. His first kiss with Kimberly. The multiple restorations of his powers. Watching three of his best friends off to Switzerland…

… then cleaving off from a part of himself, away from his White Ranger powers, re-infused with the Green Ranger powers and with evil energy all over again.

Yet this time, it had been a different sort of evil energy: not a strict mind control, but rather a sort of psychopathic obsession.

But now the obsession was gone. So was the psychopathy.

_That Wizard. It must have been the Wizard of Deception._

Now the Wizard was gone.

_I'm… Tommy Oliver_, he realized. _I'm a Power Ranger. I… I fought for good! I'm not with Rita! I'm not with Zedd!_

He'd destroyed the Wizard. Angel Grove was his.

But if he had to destroy half the population to control it, why the hell should he _care_ that Angel Grove were his?

* * *

><p>"NNNOOOOO!" thundered Lord Zedd, smashing his fist on the observatory balcony.<p>

"My own Ranger destroyed my beautiful Wizard of Darkness!" screamed Rita.

"You'd better have a Green Candle ready!" Zedd growled.

"Oh, I'd _better_, huh? Well, if _you_ wanted a backup for everything, why didn't _you_ go tramping around that armpit-scented bio-deposit in the Gamma-Tri system to fetch some fresh wax?"

Zedd turned bright red with fury. "You didn't even bother to make a Green Candle when you knew you'd be re-creating an evil Green Ranger from a human? You're worse than useless, you know that?!" Not waiting to see or hear his wife's reaction, Zedd turned to gaze upon the Earth. "Well, at least that pathetic green misfit is all alone without the other Rangers—not that they'd help the likes of _him_, I'm sure!" Zedd thrust his Z-Staff down towards the Earth. "Behold, the Capybarrel monster!"

* * *

><p>The charge disseminating from the staff hit an ordinary, innocent Capybara down in Brazil and teleported it northwest to outskirts of Angel Grove, California where it grew into a hideous, gargantuan rodent dressed in a barrel.<p>

"Hey there, Greenie!" the monster shouted in a squeaky voice.

The Green Ranger, still on the mountain, had scarcely come to terms with his newfound state—and not even been able to consider even cursorily what would happen to his friends or to his White Ranger counterpart—when he heard this unpleasantly shrill call. He whirled around to face the thing that had just addressed him.

"Whoa!" the Green Ranger mused in shock.

"You betray Lord Zedd, you'd better be ready to _rollllllll_!" squeaked the Capybarrel. He opened his mouth and spat a series of TNT-filled barrels at the top half of the mountain: some of them blew right away, some rolled down the mountains and began to blow as they reached the Green Ranger.

"WHOOOOOAA!" cried the Green Ranger as the explosions jerked him around while he struggled to roll out of the way of the barrels.

"Yeah, you'd _better_ roll fast, Greenie!" squawked the Capybarrel.

Instinct kicked in, and without hesitation, the Green Ranger pulled the Dragon Dagger up to his lips once more.

He had to protect Angel Grove. It was what he did.

"I need Dragonzord power, _now_!"

_La-Mi-So-La-Ti-La… Mi-So-La-Mi-So-La-Ti-La… La-Do-Re-La-Do-Re-Mi-Re… Do-Ti-La-Mi-So-La-Ti-La…_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	2. Self and Others

_**The Perseverence of the Green Ranger  
><strong>_Part I: Self and Others  
><strong>by MegaSilver<strong>

"Dragonzord, engage!" cried the Green Ranger.

Obeying its master, the gargantuan robot whirled its tail around and attempted to drill into the Capybarrel. The move did manage to injure the monster, but not before he could spit some TNT barrels onto the Zord. The Dragonzord and the Capybarrel both reeled backwards from, respectively the explosions and the piercing.

"Is that the best you can do?" squeaked the hideous robot as he struggled to his feet.

"You want to play with fire?" the Green Ranger growled. "There's more where that came from!" He held the Dragon Dagger up to his mouth. _So-Do-Ti-Do-Fa-So…_

The Dragonzord engaged its finger cannons and fired. The Capybarrel readied a few more TNT barrels but the Dragonzord's missiles hit him right as they left his mouth—and they exploded just yards away, close enough scorched his face.

"AAAAAAAAAAA!" came the piercingly shrill scream as the hideous creature tumbled backwards.

"Yeah! Now to finish you off!" jeered the Green Ranger. "I'm comin' aboard! HUUYAAA!" He leapt from his position on the side of the mountain onto the top of his faithful mechanical counterpart.

"All right, old friend," said the Green Ranger once in the cockpit. "Let's get this job done!"

* * *

><p>"That monster's a useless weakling!" Zedd howled back on the moon.<p>

"Well, DUH!" Rita snorted. "It's a _rodent_, you numbskull! The Dragonzord's a _reptile_. Reptiles _eat_ rodents! _You_ of all people with that snake of a staff ought to know that much! You'll never destroy a Dinozord with an overgrown hamster!"

"RRRR…" Zedd turned around to face his goons. "GOLDAR! SCORPINA! What are you doing just standing there? Get down to Earth _now_ and _cut_ the Green Ranger into quarters!"

"Yes, my lord!" agreed Goldar before the pair vanished.

* * *

><p>The Dragonzord marched steadily toward the struggling Capybarrel and positioned itself to launch another drill attack into the menace's torso. But just then, two pairs of hands—one on each side—clamped down on the Zord and hurled it away from the monster. The Dragonzord broke its fall on a tall, boxy exurban structure.<p>

"Whoa!" cried the Green Ranger from inside. "What happened?"

"_I'm_ what happened, you traitor!" Goldar's voice thundered.

"Oh, man, Goldar!"

Before the Green Ranger could get the Zord back up, Goldar landed a nasty kick into its torso. "And now, for the moment of truth!" Goldar yanked the Zord up to its feet and tossed it several feet away.

Suddenly the Green Ranger was face-to-face with the arthropod form of Scorpina.

"Nice to see you again—NOT!" taunted the villainess as she shot powerful bolts of electricity from her claws.

Amidst the devastating current, as the Green Ranger struggled to keep the Dragonzord from losing footing, the Capybarrel took advantage of the moment to spit a few volatile barrels onto the exposed zord.

There was no avoiding it now. The thing was going down. The blow would be hard. The Green Ranger had to eject or risk head trauma.

He landed neatly on the ground and rolled to his feet. "Aww, man, this is too much!" All of a sudden, he heard a familiar beeping sound. "Huh? Zordon! I'm trying to fight Zedd's monsters! I can't ward them off!"

"Green Ranger, we are aware of the situation," Zordon explained. "You will need the other Rangers to help you. Where did the Wizard of Deception send them?"

"Back in time—Angel Grove, about 200 years ago!" Then, he remembered: "Zordon, I still have the Wizard's wand! I can go get them now! But—what about the monsters?"

"If you come back at exactly the moment you left from you'll be able to pick up where you left off," said Zordon.

"All right. See you in an instant, then!"

* * *

><p>As the townsfolk—with the Rangers mingling among them—were fleeing a set of other overgrown rodents, flashes of green light suddenly penetrated the scene and green thunderbolts struck the assailants.<p>

"Huh?" exclaimed Adam.

"What was that?" cried Marissa.

"Guys, look!" Billy pointed northwards to a powerful, familiar figure standing atop a platform.

All of the Rangers were stunned. Kimberly, in a trance, walked over to the figure to look up at him. "T—Tommy?"

"No time to explain, guys!" her green teammate stated authoritatively. "We gotta fry these rats here and then go deal with one of our own!"

* * *

><p>Two hundred years after squashing the gargantuan rats wrecking havoc on their home town, the five core Rangers summoned the Thunder Megazord as the Green Ranger—Dragon Dagger in his right hand and the Wizard of Deception's wand in his left—attempted to revive the Dragonzord with his flute from the ground. But just as he was playing the tune, he felt a heavy blow send him sailing to the ground. Both the Dagger and the wand flew out of his clutches.<p>

"No!" he cried.

"Oh, yes!" came a scratchy voice. It was Goldar. "I'll take that wand, traitor!"

"Never!" The Green Ranger left his Dagger on the ground to beat the beast to the prize, but just as he was about to reach the wand, Goldar charged his sword and struck it into the wand. At once, most of the structure was incinerated in a blast that sent the Green Ranger back onto the turf.

"And now, for the Dragon Dagger!" Goldar snatched up the new, stolen prize and began to play the tune to take control of the Green Ranger's mighty Zord. But before he could make even one blow to the Thunder Megazord, he felt the Green Ranger snatch the weapon right out of his clutches. "_What?!_"

"You should know better, Monkey Brain! I beat you and Turban Shell without my powers. I beat you again and again _with_ them. Don't even try with me!"

"Oh, so you think that was _you_ out there all that time?"

The Green Ranger did find that question just a bit puzzling, but he tried to shrug it off. "Ha ha! Who else would it have been?"

"No matter! The Power Rangers may win this battle, but it cost them the White Ranger and the Tigerzord! Now their defeat in the war is assured!"

With that, Goldar vanished.

Thereafter, it soon became apparent that the Capybarrel was no match for the combined power of the Dragonzord and the Thunder Megazord. Once they had incinerated the vermin, they quickly chased Scorpina away from the outskirts of Angel Grove and force her to retreat.

* * *

><p>Back in the Command Center, Zordon and the Green Ranger, now demorphed, gave the Power Rangers a briefing on everything that had gone down—so far as they could piece it together.<p>

Kimberly blinked a few times, looking her green-clad teammate up and down. "So… you're _not_ actually Tommy?"

The Green Ranger flinched a bit. "Wait—yes, actually, I—"

Immediately, Zordon interrupted them. "Rangers, listen to me. Now that the Wizard of Deception's wand is gone, we will have to conduct the search for the White Ranger Tommy manually. Green Ranger, did the Wizard say where he sent the White Ranger to?"

The Green Ranger was confused, a bit taken aback by Kimberly's question and by Zordon's refusal to call him 'Tommy,' but he had never—not when under a spell, at least—questioned Zordon on a matter of personal significance before and he wasn't sure it would be wise to start just now. "He—he didn't say. It was supposed to be some sort of alternate dimension, but I have no idea how to reach it."

"This is very dire indeed. Without the White Power Coin, we cannot call forth Saba, and thus cannot power up and control the Tigerzord. Our chances of permanently warding off the combined powers of Zedd and Rita without the Thunder Ultrazord are very slim."

"But Zordon," said Billy, "didn't you and Alpha create the White Ranger powers more or less from scratch? How can the White Power Coin be our only hope of controlling the Tigerzord?"

"Ai-yi-yi! It was a one-shot!" exclaimed Alpha. "We had to optimize a large swath of the Command Center's computing and conductive power to save enough room to form a large enough connection to the Morphing Grid to charge a Power Coin. But I'm afraid there's no room left for energy conservation in here!"

"Alpha is correct," said Zordon. "Our only hope is to start searching—and recover the White Ranger."

Kimberly put a hand to the side of her face and stared blankly at the Command Center's computer consoles. "We have to find Tommy," she murmured.

_Now that sentiment_, thought the Green Ranger, _is_ really _not sitting right._

Kimberly shot a straight glance at Zordon. "Look, what can I do? I don't know nearly enough about science or technology to even begin to help Billy and Alpha, but we've got to use everything we've got!"

"Yes. Alpha will begin work on the search and we will ask for the Blue Ranger's and everyone else's help as it is necessary. In the meantime, the best thing for all of you to do is to carry on as valiantly as possible in the fight against Rita and Zedd.

"To that end, Pink Ranger, in the absence of the White Ranger, I ask you to assume the role of leader of the Power Rangers."

_How—why—the hell can that be? How? WHY?_ "But ZORDON—" the Green Ranger began reflexively, wide-eyed, before Zordon cut him off.

"Pink Ranger, you are one of the most experienced Rangers here, you were closer to the White Ranger than anyone had been since Jason left and based on what I have observed, you are naturally leaderly and inspirational in your personal life. Will you accept this challenge?"

Kimberly glanced at her core teammates, then at the befuddled Green Ranger, then back up at Zordon. "I will," she said. "I won't disappoint you."

"Thank you, Pink Ranger. Now, Rangers, I need to speak with the Green Ranger privately about the present predicament. You all should go home and get as much rest as possible. I will ask you to congregate back here at 10:30 tomorrow morning to begin a strategic plan for the coming months. We can expect they will not be easy."

Once the others were gone, the Green Ranger let loose. "_Zordon!_" He had to force himself not to glare as he gazed up at his master. "Why didn't you let me explain I _am_ Tommy? Why do we need Kimberly to lead?"

"Listen to me very carefully," said Zordon. "The combined threat from Rita and Zedd will undoubtedly necessitate the eventual use of the Thunder Ultrazord. We cannot simply pretend that the White Ranger Tommy no longer exists."

"But I didn't say we'd—"

"I know that. I know what happened. But neither could we in good faith have lied to the other Rangers about how this situation has come about. Moreover, I have observed human strengths and weaknesses for many centuries, and I am afraid there is no chance they would ever be able to accept the splitting of Tommy Oliver in two without assigning his proper identity to only one. And that, undoubtedly, would be the White Ranger Tommy."

The Green Ranger felt a bit hazy. All those memories, all those stories, all those tragedies and triumphs… and now—suddenly they _weren't his_?

His place as team leader—gone?

Kimberly—_gone?_

All of it just snatched out from him, just like that?

"Zordon… I…" The Green Ranger blinked a few times. "But I… I remember _everything_!" He heard his voice crack but he didn't care. "My whole life! You, and Rita, and Kimberly and Jason and losing my powers and piloting the Tigerzord and… and… my _family_! My parents! My brother and my sister! Don't I have a right to my own identity?"

"In a perfect universe, you would," agreed Zordon. "Unfortunately, in the real universe, many terrible things come about and many good people and great warriors fall victim. I am afraid it would not be wise for you to attempt to assert your right to your identity as Tommy Oliver. The consequences for the mission—and for the world, and ultimately for your person—would be disastrous."

Inside, the Green Ranger was fuming. Increasingly, he was having difficulty keeping himself from showing it on the outside, as well. After all he'd done, all he'd sacrificed… now he'd have to sacrifice his own _personality_ for the team? "It's too much," he murmured. "Too much! Why should I even stay a Power Ranger, then?"

"I know how distressing this is for you," Zordon empathized. "If I could, I would release you from your duties and send you home so that you could at least have your place in your family.

"But the other Rangers, I am afraid, would then take to the defense of the White Ranger. I have little doubt they would attempt to prevent you from taking the place in the Oliver family that they would regard as rightfully his and not yours. One way or another, you would not be left alone."

Tears began to fall from the Green Ranger's cheeks.

_It really is over. My life really is over._

Twice before he had lost his powers. Twice he had dreaded the permanent loss of everything he had loved about the life he had built around those powers and longed for nothing more than to be a Ranger yet again.

And now he was a Ranger again, only without anything that he had loved about the job.

Or anything outside of it.

"Where do I go?" the Green Ranger wondered aloud, almost in a whisper.

"For tonight, at least, and perhaps longer, I want you to stay right here," instructed Zordon. "I am worried for your physical and psychological condition in the wake of everything that has gone on and it would be very imprudent to let you be alone for the time being.

"Green Ranger, _Tommy_, listen to me. I believe you when you present yourself to me as Tommy. You are not an inferior copy. You did not ask for any of this to happen and it is not your fault. You have been a strong and courageous warrior, and your unhesitating, unflinching efforts today on behalf of Angel Grove and the Power Team once the spell wore off proved your valour once again.

"I know you took a risk when you joined the Power Rangers. I did not hide that from you, but I never once imagined something like this would come about."

"It's never happened before?"

"There have been a very few instances of presumed mind uploading in the history of the universe. In every known case, however, the copy was destroyed before it could be demonstrated that it was in fact a derivative of the same sentience, and it was believed to be something altogether different. Philosophers have discussed the matter, but with no real cases to debate, there has never been any attempt to form a consensus on how to deal with such a situation as yours.

"I cannot guarantee you anything, but I will do my best to help you find a place in this world, Tommy. But I will not be able to do that unless you resign yourself to leaving your former place and to shedding your identity as Tommy Oliver. I know how hard this must be."

"No, you don't," muttered the Green Ranger involuntarily.

Zordon seemed to take the remark in stride, though. "The consequences of not complying, however, will be disastrous for you, and nothing that is in my power to do will restrain the other Rangers."

The Green Ranger shuddered. His friends, his trusted friends… suddenly just cold-blooded predators ready to eat him alive!

"The risk of death I could deal with," the Green Ranger spoke softly. "I'd rather die than go through this."

"I know, and that is exactly why I am keeping you here: for your own sake."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	3. Another Part of Me

_**Disclaimer:**__ the relevant line at the end of the first scene is quoted from "Ninja Quest, part II." All rights belong to Saban Brands.  
><em>

_**Continuity:**__ takes place during what would have been "Ninja Quest, part II."_

_**The Perseverence of the Green Ranger  
><strong>_Part II: Another Part of Me  
><strong>by MegaSilver<strong>

In the Command Center, amidst a mass of burnt-out computer equipment, Kimberly gently caressed the burnt-out emblem of the Pterodactyl on her damaged Power Morpher. She knew it was inane, but she had come to anthropomorphize the ancient lizard as a sort of… friend, a sort of part of her.

Now it was gone. Her old Zord, and her new one. Along with her powers. Along with those of all the Rangers—except for one.

_Her_ Rangers.

Had her boyfriend been there, Kimberly might have shed a tear. But scarcely two months ago she had lost her boyfriend and cherished team-leader to an interdimensional continuum vortex, and then stepped up to take his place. Now the leader of the Power Rangers, she was on the verge of shedding not a tear of frustration, but a river of regret.

Ever the mindful of her position, though, she held it all back, if only just barely.

"I've failed you guys," she murmured. "I've failed as a Ranger and as team leader."

"Kimberly," began Zordon, "you know very well this is not the first time in the fight a Ranger has lost his powers. The risks of the battle are considerable, and elsewhere in the universe many a warrior has suffered much graver losses than that of simply his powers."

Somehow, the powered-down Pink Ranger didn't find that titbit particularly reassuring.

"Well, what do we do now, though?" Kimberly puffed. "I mean, Rita and Zedd have got to be planning some sort of massive invasion! The Green Ranger and the Dragonzord can't hold them off alone forever!"

"Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi! That's not the half of it!" exclaimed Alpha.

"Oh, no!" winced Kimberly. She looked over sympathetically at the clone of her boyfriend, her last powered teammate, who seemed to be feeling the same dread she felt.

"Another… Green Candle?" the Green Ranger dared to ask.

"Not quite, but… almost! Oh, no!" Alpha whimpered. "When the computer tried to hypercharge the Rangers' Zords, it failed to establish a link with the Dragonzord and the Green Ranger coin. The computer analysis shows that the coin has a direct link to the Morphing Grid and cannot be charged through the Command Center—but that link has now been damaged! Ai-yi-yi!"

"Damaged?" gasped the Green Ranger. "What do you mean?" Then he remembered. "The power drain! That Wizard of Deception tried to drain my powers right before I took him down!"

"Perhaps so! Whatever happened, it permanently damaged your link to the Morphing Grid and your coin's ability to rejuvinate! Based on the analysis of the power that you used during the last battle and the rate at which it partially recharged, I'm afraid that from this moment you have only twenty-one hours and forty-three minutes of Morphing time left before the Green Ranger powers are gone again!"

"Great!" exclaimed Kimberly. "Zordon, you can't repair them? Recharge ours?"

"I'm afraid not, Kimberly. The Green Ranger's links are less compromised than your own but still beyond the reach of our repair. And in its present state, the Command Center is in no shape to conduct even a temporary rejuvination."

Kimberly shut her eyes, pressed two fingers against her forehead and breathed deeply. Then she turned to her teammates Rocky, Adam, Billy and Aisha. "Come on, you guys," she said, as calmly as she could. "Let's _think_." She had no idea what to think, or how, but she knew she had to inspire.

To her surprise, however, it wasn't Billy who spoke up first, but Adam.

"Where did our powers come from in the first place?"

* * *

><p><em>So this is it.<em>

Aboard his Dragonzord, the Green Ranger clenched every muscle in his body as he tried to manoeuvre his way out of the evil clutches of a gigantic Rito Revolto's sword.

_Looks like I won't get a chance to see the end of my powers, after all._

He felt a twinge of regret and then, after a brief moment, remembered where he was and what he had become. Suddenly he felt a sort of relief.

_Maybe after all, there's no room, anywhere in reality, for more than one Tommy._

But where would he go?

Since Tommy's childhood, through his regular Sunday attendance at a Methodist church, the question had often been put to him—not directly, but to the congregation as a whole: "Where will you go when you die?" Yet never had he fully come to face with his own mortality, with the reality of one day meeting that final destination, that last choice. The relief departed from his nerves as he began to wonder what lay beyond…

As things happened, however, he would not face that destination today. For just at that moment, a powerful laser dagger cut Rito's sword in two.

"Huh?" exclaimed the Green Ranger. He stared over just beside where Rito had been standing and saw a gigantic anthropomorphic robot with a sort of crane-like head, wielding two flashy daggers. Out of the new Zord's cockpit stepped a female figure dressed in white.

"Everyone here? We need Shogun Megazord power, NOW!" cried the girl.

"_Kimberly_!"

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	4. Going Home

_**Disclaimer: **__The Power Rangers color gag is something that was inspired by Cheryl Roberts's "Pretty in Pink."_

_**The Perseverence of the Green Ranger  
><strong>_Part III: Going Home  
><strong>by MegaSilver<strong>

"Rito, you incompetent brat!" screamed Zedd in the throne room.

"But, Ed!" whined the moronic creature, cowering before his brother-in-law.

"That's ZEDD! LORD Zedd to YOU!"

"You saw that horrible bulky Zord they brought in! I could barely keep my entrails from falling out!"

"You don't _have_ entrails, you dolt!" Zedd screeched.

"Hey!" Rita intervened. "That's my brother, Musclehead!" She stomped over to intervene between her husband and her brother. "_I_ get the right to hurl the insults!" She turned her attention to Rito and glared. "_That_ was your idea of helping out?"

"Hey, I _did_ destroy their powers, didn't I? Come on, gimme a break!"

"Yeah… and in one of your classic inversions you got everyone BUT the Green Ranger!"

"Say!" Rito scratched his head. "Don't you think it's odd that his powers weren't drained with the others? Maybe you ought to look into that!"

Zedd snorted. "Listen, Revolto: a lesson in palace protocol. If you want to be appreciated, you do not speak until you are spoken to! Around here, when I want advice or observations, I _ask_ for them!"

* * *

><p>Six columns of light—green, red, black, blue, yellow and pink-streaked white—touched down in the Command Center and gave way to six costumed warriors. Of these, only the Green Ranger was familiar; the other Rangers wore new, sleeker suits recalling the trappings of ancient stealth warriors.<p>

"Ai-yi-yi! Rangers! Is it really you?" exclaimed Alpha.

The Green Ranger de-morphed. The other Rangers took off their helmets. As expected, the skirt-clad warrior in white was none other than Kimberly.

"We made it!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Round trip."

"Yeah, and not a minute too soon, from the looks of it!" remarked Aisha.

"Well done, Power Rangers!" Zordon spoke. "I see you have reached the Ninjetti epicenter on the planet Phaedos and unlocked the ancient power of the Shogun Rangers."

"What an adventure!" sighed Rocky.

"You guys'll have to tell me all about it!" exclaimed the Green Ranger. There was an awkward moment of silence, and his heart wrenched up as he remembered his friends no longer saw him as their buddy Tommy.

The other Rangers all smiled and glanced askance. "Yeah," agreed Billy, and then, changing the topic: "The new Shogun Zords are incredible!"

"Indeed," agreed Zordon. "From the looks of it, they are more than worthy replacements for your fallen Zords."

* * *

><p>Kimberly frowned as she fumbled through her wardrobe. She had awoken wanting to wear a flowery dress to school, but everything she pulled out was just too… <em>pink<em>. It was strange: she had _always_ loved the color. Actually, she still did. But so far as clothing was concerned, it just… seemed _wrong_ now.

Finally, she resigned herself to abandoning the floral theme. She'd just make do with late summer abstract. She pulled out a pair of faded denim shorts and a white form-fitting T-shirt. The only problem was that at the moment, she had no clean socks, hair ties or handbags which were not pink.

No problem. Her communicator band was pink, too, so such an accessory accent scheme would work just fine, with the mainstay color remaining white.

_My communicator!_

Kimberly sighed. She'd have to change that. It just felt… wrong not to keep her Power accessories coordinated with her Ranger suit. But at least she could make it through the day well-coordinated. Hopefully she'd have time to go shopping after school.

Once dressed and beginning to prepare her backpack, Kimberly found herself contemplating Tommy's sudden transition from green every day to white every day upon reception of his new powers. Could it be that the Power Coins triggered a psychological attraction to their respective colors? She'd have to ask Billy about…

_No._

She might secretly feel she needed to change her wristband color and wardrobe, but as leader of the Power Rangers, she couldn't afford to hurt her credibility by running off her mouth on frivolities. A month and a half ago she would not have hesitated. Now, though, things were different.

_So different_, she mused, glancing at her new Power Coin. She smiled at the arrowhead form therein, remembering almost nostalgically the projectilic pleasure of shooting off arrows at enemy targets. She had never been into marksmanship before becoming a Power Ranger, but had taken an instant liking to the sport, and had even accompanied her Uncle Steve and cousin Rémigus on a deer bow-hunting trip to Québec over Christmas break 1994-95.

The two-pronged sai that she now wielded as Shogun White was scarcely disagreeable, and at least a crossbow was sufficiently different that she wouldn't be jealous of Adam. Still…

Her glance wandered over to the framed photograph of herself with Tommy at the beach. She lightly touched the frame, a mixture of sadness, guilt and wistfulness welling up within. So many changes…

_Come on, get a grip, 'leader.'_ Kimberly took a deep breath, snatched up her backpack and headed off to school.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the Command Center, the stuffy atmosphere was beginning to heat up.<p>

"Zordon, I don't know how much more of this I can take," the Green Ranger complained. "I mean, I don't want to ruin the atmosphere but… come on! I need to go outside! I want to have a life! I'm gonna go crazy living like this."

"I understand," acknowledged Zordon. "Perhaps it would not be wise to wait it out. We will begin searching for a more palatable situation in the meantime. In the event that this situation would involve premises rather distant from Angel Grove, I am fine with releasing you from your duty as a Power Ranger."

"Release me?" The Green Ranger looked up at his mentor, horrified. "I want to use my powers for good! As long as they have them!"

"I understand. I know your power is one of the few remnants you have been able to hold on to. I will not force you to give it up prematurely.

"And… distant? How distant do you mean? How different? Where will I go? With whom will I stay?"

"We will try everything we can to make sure you are in a safe and suitable place. Unfortunately, I do not know what advice I can give that is less vague. Yours is a very idiosyncratic case and with no precedent for such a grave matter, it is impossible to know in advance what can and cannot be contrived. As I have promised, however, we will do our maximum, in urgence."

* * *

><p>"Kim!" exclaimed Aisha as her friend entered the Youth Center that afternoon. "Where were you? We've been here for hours!"<p>

"Oh," Kimberly grinned. "Just had to run out shopping after school for some things."

"Aww, mall trip without your best friend?" Aisha swatted Kimberly on the shoulder playfully. "Should've told me!"

Kimberly bit her lip. "Sorry, 'Sha. It was kind of… something urgent." She seemed to be avoiding her friend's glance.

Aisha tried to follow Kimberly's eyes. "Hey, everything okay?"

"Yeah, fine!" Kimberly insisted, smiling.

It seemed forced. Aisha wasn't convinced. "Look, actually me and the guys were about to head out. I don't know if you want to walk home with us…"

"Well, I was kind of hoping to get in a little practice on the beam," Kimberly admitted. "Look, we'll meet up here after school tomorrow, okay?" She turned to look for the other Rangers. "Hey, Rocky! Adam! You guys up for a little more karate practice tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure!" said Rocky.

"You bet!" said Adam.

* * *

><p>"I'm a little worried about Kimberly," Aisha confessed as she trotted along the sidewalk with Rocky, Adam and Billy.<p>

"Is it about the mall?" Billy wondered.

"Well, no and yeah. I mean, lately she's just… kind of been a little cooler and… you know, she's training Karate a lot more. I know it's gotta be tough taking on the leader role, but… she's never gone to the mall after school and not at least _mentioned_ it to me!"

"It could have been an emergency, just like she said," suggested Rocky.

"I don't know." Aisha pursed her lips. "I didn't get the truth vibe from her facial expression."

"Don't read too much into it," Billy suggested. "Any number of things could come up. I've known Kimberly for a long time. She wouldn't just skip out on a friend for no reason."

* * *

><p>Billy wasn't fully convinced of his own advice, however, so he made it a point to call Kimberly around seven-thirty that evening. "So… how is everything?"<p>

"Umm… fine. Just fine. Why?" Kimberly asked.

"Well, I…" Billy grimaced into the phone. It wouldn't be easy to approach this topic without giving off the impression that he was in cahoots with Aisha and the others… and losing Kimberly's confidence. He found an out and hoped it would work. "Well, you weren't at the Juice Bar after school until late. Just to know."

"Oh, well, I had some errands to run," said Kimberly, a little too fast to be credible.

"Ah, I see."

There was a moment of silence before Kimberly spoke again. "Billy, can I tell you something and you promise not to tell the others?"

Billy sat up straight in the easy chair. "Sure! Of course. What's going on?"

"I ran into Mrs. Oliver after lunch. She came into school to talk to her daughter's biology teacher. She invited me over for dinner tomorrow. I said I'd call her back." Billy heard what sounded like a sigh. "I said I'd check and call her back tonight. Honestly… I don't know what to do. I've barely seen Tommy's parents since this all went down except _really_ quickly at the beginning to tell them I hadn't seen Tommy… you know, to give them the hint that he was missing. Billy… I don't know if I can do a whole evening over there and keep up the lie."

Billy swallowed. That _was_ heavy. He offered the standard unhelpful solution to this sort of problem. "Well, you don't have to _tell_ them anything false; you can just not say what happened."

"I know, but it's still not totally honest. I just suck so bad at lying, and I know I have to, but it's so hard if I have to watch them suffer and I know what happened and I can't say anything. I think they'll _know_. But if I _don't_ go, they'll know something is wrong, anyway. Totally catch-22. And God forbid if they try to have the police harangue me or—"

"Why not talk to Zordon?"

"Are you kidding? With Tom—with the Green Ranger there? I mean, I know it's not Tommy—nothing to do with Tommy except just looks—but it'd just feel way too weird, you know?"

Something about sentence, in particular the interjection about the nature of the clone, didn't seem fully right to Billy, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why. In any case he could tell Kimberly was speaking very sincerely, and hers was a legitimate concern. He shrugged off his nagging doubt. "Right. Look, how about call them right now and accept the invitation? Then we'll meet up tomorrow and brainstorm."

"Just the two of us," Kimberly specified. "Don't tell the others. I don't want too much input from too many people about something I'm going to have to do alone, anyway."

* * *

><p>Before the two could meet up the next day, however, the Rangers found themselves summoned to the Command Center after fourth period.<p>

"Rangers, this latest foe presents a tactical challenge," explained Zordon. "The Griffinazza monster's vital organs are covered in armoured plates, and you must therefore aim the Shogun Megazord's Fire Saber with the utmost precision to break through. Only the heat and the sharpness of the Saber will suffice to take the fiend down."

"So what's the challenge?" Rocky wanted to know. "We've dealt plenty of blows with Megazord swords before."

"The problem is in the wings!" explained Alpha. "The monster is capable of taking flight, and you'll need to bring it to the ground before transforming. Otherwise, the Shogun Megazord is too bottom-heavy to force it within range and it'll just keep shooting thunderbolts at will!"

"This sure ain't the Griffin I was used to!" interjected Aisha.

"The Shogun Zords are pretty bulky as it is!" Adam grimaced.

Kimberly took a step back to face her teammates. "Billy, what's the lightest Shogun Zord?"

"The Crane and the Wolf are about equal," Billy answered. "They're noticeably lighter than the others, but not by much. The shielding on the Zords is stronger when combined."

"Okay." Kimberly thought for a moment. "Listen, guys, try to stay in formation. We don't want to get scattered in case Rita and Zedd send reinforcements. Rocky, you got the hang of piloting the thing?"

"Definitely!" her friend answered confidently.

"The Ape's the logical centrepiece in battle formation, too," Billy offered.

"Okay." Kimberly took a deep breath and cast a steady look into Rocky's eyes. "Rocky, looks you're gonna be leading the charge and battle plan executions, too. I'll call up the attacks, but it's up to you to bring everyone together and see who's where."

"Count on me," Rocky promised, looking a bit too emboldened, perhaps covering up a bit of nervousness.

Kimberly drew a deep breath. She was definitely playing at the confident one herself. She hoped she knew what she was doing.

_If only Tommy were here…_

To her annoyance, right as she thought that, Rocky blurted, "What about the Green Ranger and the Dragonzord?"

Kimberly had scarcely noticed the unmorphed Green Ranger standing off to the side. It seemed so bizarre to have him there.

"Remember, he does not have much Morphing time remaining," Zordon admonished.

"I'll be here if you need me," the Green Ranger promised.

"This'll be our first field test of five in a long time," Billy remarked.

Kimberly nodded and bit her lip, trying hard not to remember how strange it was to make their great adventure on Phaedos without Tommy guiding them… and suddenly, for the first time, she became conscious of the psychological burden of going into battle without him.

She didn't notice, of course, but the Green Ranger off to the side was suffering a silent but profound psychological burden himself.

"All right, let's go," she said finally.

"May the Power protect you, Rangers," bade Zordon.

"It's Morphin' time!" cried Kimberly.

The five Rangers withdrew their new Power Coins. "Ninja Power, Shogun Rangers, power up!"

* * *

><p>The White and Blue Shogunzords reeled from the lightning bolts launched from above.<p>

"Man, I thought pigeons were bad!" the Red Ranger gruffed at the sight.

"You said it!" the Blue Ranger moaned. "Kimberly, you okay?"

"I'm fine!" the newly-minted White Ranger insisted. "Quick, let's get back in formation. Rocky, Billy and I are gonna mount: as soon as that thing swoops back, you guys launch us up!"

"Got it!" the Red Ranger confirmed. "Adam, Aisha, you ready?"

"You bet!" the Black and Yellow Rangers cried out in unison. Their respective Zords came to stand each one off to one side of the Red Shogunzord.

"Okay! Kim, Billy, get into place!"

White and Blue lined up behind the three-strong wall. The Griffinazza swooped by but not particularly low, and before the Rangers could execute their launch plan, another lightning bolt shot forth. Quickly, Red withdrew its shield and blocked the attack.

"Nice save, Rocky!" commented Aisha.

"Whoa, that was lucky!" exclaimed Rocky. "Hey guys, stay together! If he attacks again, I'll cover!"

"Right, but we gotta take the risk!" Kimberly insisted. "Rocky, give me the signal!"

"Steady—now!"

At that moment, White leapt over the head of Red, landing squarely into the hand-pile launch pad Red, Black and Yellow held out, and was sent hurling toward the beast. Clutching its two sai, it tried to scrape at the Griffinazza but missed. No matter: the thing wasn't done swooping. It would be lower by the time Blue showed up to spear it.

Alas, the initial descent had been a decoy, and the monster was ready for Blue. Inside the Zord, Billy felt the structure shake, rattle and roll as the force of a lightning bolt interrupted his projectile and sent Blue hurling to the ground.

"AAAAH!" he cried out from the cockpit.

"Billy!" cried Kimberly.

"That was quite a blow! Locomotive systems on the brink of overload! I've got to cool this thing off before we try to form up again!"

* * *

><p>Zedd watched with amusement from the Moon Palace. "Just like that pesky mosquito that flies into your room at night and never goes away!" he snickered.<p>

"Yeah, but ain't gonna do much more than be pesky at this rate if it can't get near the Power pukes!" Rita snorted.

"Oh, stop acting as though I don't know what's going on!" Zedd growled. "Rito! Goldar! Scorpina! Time to enter the stage!"

* * *

><p>"Heighty-ho, humans!" came a scratchy, nasty voice.<p>

"Huh?" Rocky focused attention to his left. Goldar was on the approach. "Oh, no! Guys, we've got company! Billy, Kim, get back here!"

Blue was still on the ground. "I'm trying to pull this thing up!" exclaimed Billy. "But I can't risk bypassing the thrust control and overheating!"

"Guys, let's cover him, quick!" ordered Kimberly. Immediately she directed her Zord to run toward Billy's. But before she had taken two steps, she found herself blocked by the blow of a sharp boomerang. "Huh? Scorpina!"

"I don't fancy all this competition for the menfolk, Pinky! Or should I say, Whitey?" Scorpina hissed.

"Billy, I'm coming! Hang on!" called Rocky.

But before Red could even move, Rito's sword cut his path. "Having a nice day, Monkey Man?"

At that moment, the Griffinazza launched another thunderbolt attack on Blue.

"Oh no! I'm down again!" cried Billy as the blows shook his Zord.

White struggled to throw off Scorpina's clutches. "Adam, use your crossbow!" Kimberly instructed.

"Huh? Right!" Adam directed Black to withdraw the bow and aim squarely for the winged beast. The arrow bounced right off its armored body.

Yellow was tangled up in a struggle with Goldar. "Aim for the wing!" Aisha cried to her comrade.

"It's too agile!" Adam complained.

Goldar managed to strike Yellow to the ground and charge toward Black. "That, _and_ you're late for French dinner, frog!" he laughed, striking Black's hand with his sword and knocking the crossbow to the ground.

Griffinazza took advantage of the diversions to swoop down and land another lightning bolt on Blue, which was still writhing on the ground.

"I'm burning up in here!" Billy shouted.

* * *

><p>"Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi!" wailed Alpha as he watched the scene on the Viewing Globe. "They're going to isolate the Shogun Zords and pick them off one by one!"<p>

"Green Ranger, you must free up the Zords so they can re-enter formation. Make haste, and be careful!"

The Green Ranger nodded. _Go into this_, he told himself. _You're Tommy._ If he could remember that, and forget the current predicament that denied him his rightful identity until the end of the battle, he could make it through as though nothing were wrong. "It's Morphin' time!

"Dragonzord!"

* * *

><p><em>La-Mi-So-La-Ti-La… Mi-So-La-Mi-So-La-Ti-La… La-Do-Re-La-Do-Re-Mi-Re… Do-Ti-La-Mi-So-La-Ti-La<em>

The powerful robotic beast raced from the ocean to the battlefield and immediately whipped its sharp tail around to punish Scorpina.

"AAAUGH!" cried the villainess as she was thrust away from White and onto the ground.

"Hey, Rito, take this!" jeered Tommy.

_So-Do-Ti-Do-Fa-So_

The drill-bit tail tip of the Dragonzord began gyrating at maximum speed, whipping Rito's sword out of his hand and shocking him into jumping away from Red.

"Goldar, get off him!" Tommy ordered.

Before Goldar could react, the Dragonzord was neatly peeling him off Black.

"You again?!" snarled the ugly golden monkey.

"That's right! I'm a Power Ranger to the end!"

"Guys, Green Ranger's here!" exclaimed Kimberly.

"Awesome! Let's regroup, fast!" Rocky suggested. As quickly as possible, Red, White, Yellow and Black congregated around Blue. Red used its shield to block another lightning bolt from Griffinazza while the other Zords helped Blue to its feet.

"Let's get the Megazord online before they re-form!" ordered Kimberly.

"We need Shogun Megazord power!" the Rangers called.

The Griffinazza could barely ding the massive combination as it got to work warding off Goldar, Scorpina and Rito, but for the Dragonzord, its electrical shocks were more than a little annoying.

"Green Ranger! Use the missiles!" called Billy.

For a moment, the Green Ranger was thrown off from his war field equilibrium. Normally a Ranger would have called him 'Tommy' in battle, no question.

_Forget it._

"Right!"

_So-Do-Ti-Do-Fa-So_

The Dragonzord charged its finger missiles and aimed them into the path of the Griffinazza. The multiplicity of projectiles did indeed make a difference: one of them pierced right through the wing.

Griffinazza screeched horribly as it struggled to make an organized crash-landing.

"All right!" laughed the Green Ranger. "Dragonzord, give 'em some space, old buddy!"

Rito was in the primary obstructive position with respect to the Shogun Megazord. With a quick swipe of the tail, Dragonzord knocked the stupid skeleton off to the side, and the massive Zord was able to begin its charge toward the reeling remnant of the Griffinazza.

"Fire Saber, finishing mode!" called Rocky.

* * *

><p>"Once again, congratulations on a job well-done, Rangers!" said Zordon when the team was back and unmorphed. "In the heat of the battle, the enemy stretched you as thin as possible, but your teamwork was irreproachable. Kimberly, you displayed exemplary tactical wisdom, and Rocky, you rose perfectly to the occasion of battle command."<p>

"Well, they did succeed in breaking our formation," admitted Rocky. "We can only count our blessings the Green Ranger showed up when he did!"

"Indeed," agreed Zordon. "Green Ranger, your unflinching charge in the midst of so many travails was no less than what I would expect. We are very fortunate to have you with us."

The Green Ranger smiled. That little bit of recognition, after the last six weeks of pure misery, felt like the world.

But at the same time, it only made him hunger for more, and dread the inevitable feeling of total drain.

Aisha piped up. "You know, Zordon… speaking of that, I can't speak for the others, but I kind of feel bad about him staying all locked up here in the Command Center. I mean, isn't there something we could do? Somewhere he could go?"

"I don't know," Kimberly threw in. "I mean, I agree in principle, but… where would he go? And the Olivers have already reported Tommy missing. Without the real Tommy around, too, how would we ever explain what happened—or even part of it—to his parents? Already it's awkward enough trying to talk to them!"

_She's talking to my parents._ The Green Ranger tensed up a bit. _What are they saying…?_ Then suddenly, an idea came to him. It was a long shot, and he'd have to play along with the other Rangers in this stupid identity game, but it was a good compromise. And maybe even, with a bit of time…

"Wait!" exclaimed the Green Ranger. "What if—I mean, just temporarily, until we find the White Ranger… what if I went with the Olivers? I mean, as a decoy. It'd allay suspicions, too, of the mission…"

"But then what would you do when we finally found Tommy?" Kimberly wondered, looking a bit off-put by the suggestion.

The Green Ranger tried to force himself not to be off-put. "At least then we could explain… one way or the other. Make a switch and then… I don't know, but there'll be a way!"

In truth, he did not _at all_ want that day to come.

Kimberly grimaced and shook her head. "I don't know. Look, I guess it's between you and Zordon, but… can you really see yourself integrated into a family that's not exactly… yours?"

Billy piped up. "Well, technically, as a clone, he's an offspring of Tommy. So from the biological point of view, he _is_ technically a part of the family."

"Yeah!" exclaimed the Green Ranger, happy for this little in. "Plus, I know they're nice people. The Wizard—he copied all of Tommy's memories into me to make it easier to trick you. I remember everything!"

"Everything?" Kimberly looked like she was trying very hard not to scream.

The Green Ranger felt as though daggers had pierced through his heart. He knew Kimberly hadn't meant to, but for him, the look she had just given was equivalent to totally denying every single precious moment they had spent together.

"Rangers, I will need to speak with the Green Ranger about this in private," explained Zordon. "Please stay close by until I give you the signal. In the event that we take action, we'll need your help." Once the other Rangers were gone, he turned his attention to the clone. "Green Ranger, Tommy, do you understand what you are asking?"

"I'm asking to get out of here!" the Green Ranger exclaimed. "I can't stand this another minute. I have to leave! And I'm leaving. And you won't stop me!" Certainly he joked not. He would never have thrown such a defiance to Zordon of all people had he not _really_ been at the end of his rope.

"No, I won't restrain you if you do leave," promised Zordon. "But please hear me out first, and then I will let you go.

"I know you would love nothing more than to be with your family and friends once again. And that if you cannot find recognition from your friends you at least want to be with your family. It is a perfectly natural sentiment.

"However, you must accept the consequences of doing so. If you assume the social identity of Tommy Oliver, the other Rangers will most certainly attempt to take to the defense of the White Ranger Tommy with respect to his family if you appear to intend to settle into this identity permanently. You must accept that the fallout for you, for your family, for the other Rangers and for our mission could be disastrous."

"But maybe if the others see me living just fine with my family, maybe if they get used to me remembering and feeling everything, they might… with a bit of time…"

"That is not a possibility I would recommend counting on."

The Green Ranger sighed in frustration. He'd figured Zordon would say something like that.

"More than even before, you will be leading a double-life. The psychological pressures and the long-term consequences of this choice could be much farther-reaching than you might imagine."

"Or maybe not!" protested the Green Ranger. "But if so, then so be it! I'll deal with it then!" He was breathing hard. "Look, maybe there's a price to pay. But this risk has to be a price worth paying if it means I stop paying what I'm paying today, because I can't! I just can't anymore!" Gritting his teeth, he pounded the inert metal casing on the rail in front of the computer console. A tear ran down his cheek.

"I know," said Zordon. "I concede that, given my age and my distance, it is sometimes easier for me to take a long-term view of things, even perhaps to the point of neglecting the feasibility of the short-term actions that are required to get there. The price to pay for a secure future may be impossible, and in any event none of us can tell what the future holds. Sometimes we must live for the moment.

"Moreover, perhaps what you are doing is a mistake, but no being can grow or learn without experiencing trial and tribulation. If there comes a tipping point, it is often necessary to act to alleviate an impossible pain.

"Therefore, I will give my blessing to your project, on the condition that you tread as carefully as possible with respect to the other Rangers."

The Green Ranger looked up at Zordon and nodded, very deliberately and rapidly. "I will," he said. "I'll do good."

He didn't even know what it would mean to "tread carefully." But he didn't care. Right now, only one thing mattered.

_I'm going home!_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


End file.
